Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Methodology Booklet

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Methodology Booklet

Environmental integrity is at the heart of the CDM and methodologies have a major role in ensuring this integrity. Methodologies are required to establish a project’s emissions baseline, or expected emissions without the project, and to monitor the actual ongoing emissions once a project is implemented. The difference between the baseline and actual emissions determines what a project is eligible to earn in the form of credits. Methodologies are essential when quantifying emission reductions in an uncapped environment on a project-byproject basis. The function of methodologies is easy to grasp, but the methodologies themselves can be quite complex. They are necessarily diverse in their composition and application in order to accommodate the wide range of activities and locales covered by the CDM. Hence this publication, designed to guide users through the complex world of CDM methodologies.